By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
PFL 8 (2025) and UFC Fight Night: Taira vs. Park were this past weekend and featured some exciting fights and finishes. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
PFL 8 (2025)
GOOD- Jordan Newman stops Eslam Abdul Baset Syaha
Newman starts off firing kicks but quickly gets dropped by Syaha, who
jumps on top and hammers away. They’re up and down and back up, where
Newman drops Syaha with a big knee from the clinch. Syaha is hurt
badly but gets back to his feet, only to get dropped a few more times.
The first round ends and Syaha retires on the stool in between rounds.
Newman improves to a perfect 8-0 while Syaha drops to 16-4 with 1 No Contest. Good win for Newman.
GOOD- Asael Adjoudj vs. Yves Landu
They spend the first round trading strikes before going to the mat and
grappling for a bit. The second round sees Adjoudj take the fight to
the ground and work his ground-and-pound. Landu comes out on fire in
the third round and starts smashing Adjoudj. Knowing the way too many
judges are, this won’t be a 10-8 round and draw for Landu but I don’t
know why. Landu beat the hell out of Adjoudj in the third round.
Anyway, the fight ends so we go to the judges to render their verdict.
Adjoudj wins the decision to improve to 10-1 and has won 10 straight
fights while Landu drops to 21-10 and has his 5 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Adjoudj.
GOOD- Movlid Khaybulaev submits Jesus Pinedo
This fight was to crown the 2025 PFL World Tournament Featherweight
Champion and the $1 million winner. Khaybulaev gets a takedown but the
referee restarts them on their feet for lack of action. It doesn’t matter, as Khaybulaev gets another takedown and works his ground-and-pound. The second round sees Khaybulaev getting a takedown,
then getting restarted on the feet for lack of action, then Khaybulaev
drops Pinedo and hammers away. Pinedo hurts Khaybulaev with a big
right hand to start the third round but Khaybulaev is able to get a takedown. They’re up and down a few times but this is playing out like
the other rounds. Khaybulaev is just too strong and Pinedo is
struggling to get him off so he can stand.
The fourth round is more of the same. In the fifth round, Khaybulaev
gets a takedown and locks in an arm-triangle choke that forces the tap
not quite a minute and half into the fifth round.
Khaybulaev improves to an undefeated 24-0-1 with 1 No Contest while
Pinedo drops to 25-7-1 and has his 5 fight winning streak snapped.
Good win for Khaybulaev, your 2025 PFL World Tournament Featherweight
Champion.
GOOD- Thad Jean vs. Logan Storely
This fight was to crown the 2025 PFL World Tournament Welterweight Champion and the $1 million winner. Jean is doing damage in the first
round and stymieing Storely’s takedown attempts. Jean turns up the
heat in the second round and severely damages Storely, but Storely survives. Jean continues to deny takedown attempts by Storely in the
third round, all while doing damage with his striking. Storely does
get a takedown toward the end of the round, though.
Jean continues to punish Storely in the fourth round, though Storely
does get another takedown. Jean is immediately back to his feet and
the fourth round ends. The fifth round sees Storely show more incredible toughness but this fight is all Jean, who batters Storely
from all angles. He can’t finish Storely, though, so we go to the judges to render their verdict.
Jean wins the decision to improve to a perfect 11-0 while Storely
drops to 18-4 and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for
Jean, your 2025 PFL World Tournament Welterweight Champion.
UFC Fight Night: Taira vs. Park
GOOD- Danny Silva vs. Kevin Vallejos
They start off trading strikes until Silva gets a takedown right
before the first round ends. The second round begins with kicks but
both fighters quickly mix in punches as well. Both men are throwing
heavy leather and showing good toughness by absorbing the strikes.
Vallejos gets a takedown but Silva is quickly back to his feet. They trade bombs until the second round ends. The third round starts with
more stiff striking exchanges. The toughness of both fighters is on
full display here as they take huge strikes but keep on swinging. The
fight ends so we go to the judges to render their verdict.
Vallejos wins the decision to improve to 16-1 and has won 5 straight
fights while Silva drops to 10-2 and has his 4 fight winning streak
snapped. Good win for Vallejos.
GOOD- Neil Magny stops Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
They start off firing strikes at each other from all angles. They’re exchanging stiff strikes as they clinch on the cage. Zaleski dos
Santos gets a takedown just before the first round ends. The second
round begins with Zaleski dos Santos getting a takedown and they grapple for a while. They’re up and down a few times as Magny lays
into Zaleski dos Santos with power strikes that force the referee to jump in to stop the fight a little over four and a half minutes into the first round.
Magny improves to 30-13 while Zaleski dos Santos drops to 25-10-1.
Good win for Magny.
GOOD- Karol Rosa vs. Nora Cornolle
They trade strikes early and often, first at a distance then in the
clinch, until the first round ends. The second round begins with an
immediate Rosa takedown, who uses her ground-and-pound for the rest of
the second round. The third round starts with another immediate Rosa
takedown, who again uses her heavy ground-and-pound to grind Cornolle
down.The fight ends so we go to the judges to render their verdict.
Rosa wins the decision to improve to 19-7 while Cornolle drops to 9-3.
Good win for Rosa.
GOOD- Elves Brener vs. Esteban Ribovics
They start off trading kicks before going to the mat. They’re quickly
back to their feet, though, and resume swinging at each other from all
angles. Brener can’t get a takedown as they punish each other with
strikes and the first round ends. The second round begins with more of
the same frantic pace, as both men nail each other with heavy strikes.
The action is face and furious as they batter each other and flex their incredible cardio. The third round starts with more of the same,
as the intensity stays at a very high level. Ribovics is maintaining
his frenetic pace while Brener eases back a bit. The action has been
non-stop and a treat to watch as the fight ends. We go to the judges
to render their verdict.
Ribovics wins the decision to improve to 15-2 while Brener drops to
16-6 and has lost 3 straight fights. Strong win for Ribovics in a fantastic fight.
GOOD- Mateusz Rebecki vs. Chris Duncan
They start off swinging and Rebecki knocks Duncan down, though he’s
quickly back up. Rebecki gets a takedown but lets Duncan up and they
resume trading strikes. Duncan connects with some damaging elbows
while Rebecki favors punches. The second round begins with more
frenetic action. Rebecki has some major swelling on his forehead but pushes forward. Now his eye is swelling shut as the second round ends.
The third round starts with Rebecki getting a quick takedown but he
lets Duncan up so they can trade more stiff strikes. Rebecki gets
another takedown but they’re quickly back up and now Duncan is
bleeding off of a Rebecki strike. They’re trading bombs and somehow
taking them without going unconscious. This is another wild and
violent fight in which time expires. We go to the judges to render their verdict.
Duncan wins the decision to improve to 14-2 and has won 3 straight
fights while Rebecki drops to 20-3. Good win for Duncan in another
fantastic fight.
GOOD- Tatsuro Taira submits Park Hyun-sung
They trade kicks early before Taira drops Park with a pair of right
hands. Taira jumps on top as they scramble. Park is fighting his way
up but Taira returns him to the mat. Taira is tenacious and stays
attached to Park until the first round ends. The second round begins
with Taira getting a quick takedown, where he wraps up a rear-naked
choke on Park’s chin. Taira squeezes hard and Park has to tap out a
little over a minute into the second round.
Taira improves to 17-1 while Park is defeated for the first time and is now 10-1. Great win for Taira.
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Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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